Baseball Team Goes Nuts for Tag

Holly Richmond

Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 11:00 AM

How a baseball team and a peanut butter company are using Microsoft Tag.

If you've been dying to learn the link between Bill Murray and Tag, today's your lucky day. The actor co-owns minor league baseball team Charleston Riverdogs, and – you guessed it – the team recently used Tag to interact with its fans. (I'll try to keep Ghostbusters references to a minimum but no promises.)

For their Sunday night game against the Augusta GreenJackets, the Riverdogs had Dog Day (on which the expected 2,500+ fans could come with pups in tow). It was also Tag night. A scavenger hunt using seven Tags rewarded winners with a free team hat and ticket to an upcoming game. Fans could also score discounts on concessions and merch by scanning Tags. The Riverdogs posted a message to their 10,000 Facebook fans, website, and email list to explain Tag to fans and encourage them to install the Tag reader before the game. Local guerrilla marketing company Rule 76 helped the Riverdogs implement the Tags.

Another company using Tag recently is CB's Nuts, a craft peanut roaster in Kingston, WA. The company has put a Tag right on the side of peanut butter jars, connecting shoppers with a video about the company and its manufacturing process. They even sent us a few jars. We'll see how well it goes with Crackerjack!

Would you scan a Tag at a baseball game, or when you're making a sandwich? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook or Twitter.